Ovimbundu

The Ovimbundu are an ethnic group consisting of traders, farmers, and herders who live on the Bié Plateau of central Angola. They speak both Portuguese and the Bantu language of Umbundu. As the largest ethnic group in Angola, they make up 37 percent of the country's population.^[1] Many Ovimbundu follow Christianity; however, some still retain practices from African traditional religions.

The Ovimbundu once were traders with other African peoples and with the Portuguese. Each trading caravan had a professional leader and diviner. Trade agreements that had linked the independent chiefdoms led to the development of regional specialization; including metalwork and cornmeal production. Slavery and the slave trade were also an integral part of Ovimbundu societies. Large-scale trading activities declined with the suppression of the slave trade and the construction of the Benguela Railway in 1904.

The Ovimbundu were a main force behind the UNITA rebel army. Huambo and Kuito, the two largest cities of Ovimbundu territory, were completely destroyed in the bloody Angolan Civil War between 1992 and 1994.

References

1. ^ "Angola". World Factbook Online. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ao.html. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 

Further reading

• Heywood, Linda. (2000). Contested Power in Angola, 1840s to the Present. (A scholarly political history of the Ovimbundu).

External links

• Ovimbundu Britannica Online
• Nação Ovimbundu

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